When the Indiana Pacers traded Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, it sent shock waves through the NBA. Not only was the trade not even on the radar with teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets trying to bring the big man to their championship-ready teams. Now, it turns out that the Cavaliers were close to bringing George to Cleveland but it all came down to LeBron James committing to the team long term.
LeBron wouldn't commit to Cavaliers
FOX Sports 1's Chris Broussard is who broke the news when he appeared on the recent episode of "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" and was asked about LeBron and the Cavaliers.
According to Broussard, LeBron was asked to commit to the Cavaliers long-term before the team made a huge trade to bring in Paul George and James refused to commit.
This lines up with other LeBron James rumors from the last week.
Chris Sheridan tweeted last week that LeBron was leaving Cleveland 100-percent only to have James' agent reach out to other reporters and deny that LeBron had made that decision yet. However, Sheridan has maintained that the agent is just working to save his client's value.
One follow-up tweet on LeBron leaving Cleveland next summer: Denials from his reps are disingenuous. They will/must lie to protect his image
— Chris Sheridan (@sheridanhoops) August 17, 2017
What was the Paul George trade?
Everyone seemed shocked when Kyrie Irving went to talk to the Cleveland Cavaliers about leaving the team.
While many pointed their fingers at Kyrie for trying to force his way out, it turns out that Cleveland was considering trading him anyway before the 2017 NBA Draft.
According to Chris Broussard, the trade would have sent Kyrie Irving to the Phoenix Suns. In exchange, the Suns would send their first round draft pick to the Indiana Pacers and Eric Bledsoe to the Cavaliers.
The final piece of the NBA trade would have sent Paul George to the Cleveland Cavaliers as well.
There were rumors that Paul George might sign long-term with the Cleveland Cavaliers if the team were to lock up LeBron long-term as well. That is when Dan Gilbert asked James if he would commit to the team long-term in order for them to pair him up with Paul George and James refused to commit.
Without LeBron James committing to the Cleveland Cavaliers, there was no way Paul George would have signed a long-term deal either. Cleveland was not willing to trade away their other star in Kyrie Irving and then end up losing LeBron and George next year, leaving them with nothing at all, so Gilbert nixed the trade.
However, it now looks like LeBron James is leaving next season anyway and now Kyrie Irving wants out. This actually works out better for the Cleveland Cavaliers because they can try to trade Kyrie for a player that wants to play for the team long-term - if they can find one. It is just interesting how close the trade came to bringing Paul George to Cleveland.